Getting Acquainted with Tashkent & Vicinity

I landed in Tashkent late in the evening and made it to my hotel just in time to drop off my bags and get dinner at a nearby restaurant. My room was directly across from reception, there were no shades on the windows which had openings looking out onto the nearby street and a street lamp. It was a rough night of sleeping between light all night and the noise off and on from the reception.

On a whim the next morning I signed up online for a tour offered by a local tour agency. I should not have used this particular company; they listed a provided guide as speaking English, that was not the case. The guide I was with was in a hurry the entire time and tried to drive back to Tashkent immediately after our first stop despite other stops listed on the itinerary. Convincing him otherwise required a phone call back to their office and speaking with a translator.

Our first stop was next to Chimgan, a ski resort with an open seat lift containing a small metal bar covering most of your lap as you ascend. During my visit, the lift was filled primarily with older Uzbekistan women in traditional dress. The lift ascended to about 6,500 feet providing panoramic vistas of the nearby the Western Tien Shan mountains. I had last been in these mountains trekking in neighboring Kyrgyzstan.

Containing our journey, I had to insist we stop at the lookout above the impressive Charvak Reservoir for some photographs. As we descended we passed by the large earthen dam holding back the water from the towns directly below. Guards and no photograph signs greeted us around one of the bends in the road.

Our final stop was to see the ancient petroglyphs on the peaceful grounds of Chinar’s Restaurant in small town of Chorvoq. While not much to see, these drawings are estimated to be up to 100,000 years old. I enjoyed a relaxing lunch until the driver came and sat down at my table and kept repeatedly asking the waiter for the bill despite the fact I was still finishing up my meal.

Using Yandex (a ride share company similar to Uber) I visited Uzumfermer Hotel & Winery located 35-40 minutes from the center of Tashkent. The tour company I previously met with strongly discouraged me from going to this winery on my own as they said their employees would not speak English. That was not the case; the owner’s son even conducted my private tasting despite my arrival without an appointment late in the afternoon.

This winery was established in 2020 on land the founding family purchased in 2008. This is Uzbekistan’s premier production of quality wines; their efforts have already been validated at a number of international wine competitions including taking home silver and gold medals and a special award for their inaugural release of Cabernet Sauvignon. During our visit the nearby roads and homes were undergoing major beautification because the president of Uzbekistan was going to be visiting and speaking in three days. It was clear the workers were going to need a round the clock commitment to fix the severely damaged roads and various homes which were getting a complete white wash.

The vineyards surrounding the winery are primarily planted to table grapes because the summers in the lowlands are too warm for growing most premium wine grapes. Rather the majority of their grapes are growing in the mountains at Parkent (about a 40 minute drive from the winery) which is at an elevation where it is cooler during the day and also at night.

They produce a number of white wines including several Riesling bottlings. And they produce a diversity of red wines including a proprietary blend called MerryTash. This wine was originally a mistake as one of their growers included a Georgian red variety with both Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir during a particular harvest. The resulting blend produced a very desirable wine which the continue to produce each year. The majority of MerryTash is about equal parts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir with the remainder being the Georgian variety.

MSA is another wine brand, also owned by the family (the daughter and her husband); these wines are produced at Uzumfermer. Rather than using a traditional or classic look for their wine labels, rather these labels pay homage to Uzbekistan culture and colors.

Visits are educational and either include a tour of the winery followed by a tasting or a seated only tasting either upstairs in their hospitality and restaurant space or weather permitting outdoors on the grounds. The property features both a hotel and a restaurant, a picturesque garden and a fishing pond.

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